To install the Zalman CNPS 5100-Cu you will need 4 of the small screws and put them through the backside of the motherboard through the holes. You will then need to screw the 4 lugs that are on the heatsink to the screws that are through the motherboard holes. After you have the lugs attached to your motherboard you will need to screw the heatsink to the lugs so that they are nice and tight to ensure good contact with your CPU.
Like always I will be using Artic Silver 3 for testing, I will also be using an external Compunurse thermal probe for the temperature readings. To get the idle temperatures I booted up the computer and let it idle for about 20 minutes. To get the load temperatures of each speed I used Prime 95 for about 20 minutes.
Test Bed
- AOpen AK77-333
- 1.2Ghz Thunderbird
- 256MB Crucial PC2100
- Asus Geforce 2 GTS 64MB
- Globalwin YCC-8870 case
I first tested with the heatsink with it on silent mode, the fan is really quiet on this setting and performs good. Zalman heatsinks are not really designed for overclocking, especially while on silent mode. They are designed to be quiet while keeping your CPU at a good temperature which this does really well and is quiet.
I then shutdown the computer and let it cool back down and rebooted it. I set the fan mate to the highest setting which would be considered normal mode and retested. Even at normal mode the fan is not very loud and as you can see the results are really good with the load temperature only being 45 degrees Celsius.
Conclusion
This is just another example of a great Zalman product which has a lot to offer to someone who is looking to make their computer very quiet. Not only is this heatsink very quiet but it comes with a lot of extras and spare parts which is very useful. There is a good and bad to the mounting system that this heatsink uses, the good is that if you have a broken tab on your socket this heatsink will still work and the bad is that it is more difficult to install compared to a conventional heatsink and if your motherboard does not have the holes needed you will not be able to use it. I really like this heatsink thought because I really like quiet systems and it can be used with both AMD and Intel systems. Overall I would give this heatsink a 9/10 and am awarding it the OCmodshop Seal of Approval. I would like to thank Zalman USA for giving me this product to review and you can buy this and every other Zalman product from Sharka Corporation
Pros
- Very cool looking
- Very quiet
- Good performance
- Thermal compound included
- Fan control device included
- Spare parts included
- Works on AMD and Intel setups
Cons
- Installation not as simple as a clip
